Reviews 2084

Norway’s Jono El Grande wears his musical influences on his sleeve and a grand Zappaesque moustache on his top lip. He’s a self-confessed devotee of Frank Zappa, and "Neo Dada" has the same in yer face virtuosity and invention that typified the latter’s take on rock. "Ballet Morbido In A Dozen Tiny Movements" covers everything: nonsensical vocalising, frequent time signature changes, disconnected shifts to classical interludes and, of course, seemingly endless outbreaks of xylophone playing. But "Neo Dada" is far more than pastiche or tribute. The heavy riffing guitar on "Neo Dada" itself and "Three Variations On A Mainstream Neurosis" drag art rock into the present. His reputation in his native land owes much to dada-like performance, but he exuberance transfers clearly to the recordings.The Wire (UK)

Zappa disciple Jono El Grande has, like his late mentor, a special genius for fusing together seemingly disparate musical forms and instrumental combinations into a very palatable whole. On "Ballet Morbido In A Dozen Tiny Movements", for example, we have a collision of atonal xylophones, honky tonk piano, quasi-medieval harpsichord and crumhorn sections, Beefheartian free rock and several other strains of musical lunacy that are hard to identify. It works and it´s brilliant. And although titles like "Three Variations On A Mainstream Neurosis" are very Frank, Jono is far from being a mere imitator. While there are moments that could have come from "Orchestral Favourites" or even "Lumpy Gravy", this is 21st century art rock, inspired by Zappa and many of Frank´s inspirations.Prog (UK)

This is the kind of album you could stow away in a time capsule only for the generations to come to be baffled that it ever existed. Neo Dada is an aptly titled piece of modern compositional fusion that chops and changes between heavy duty prog-jazz, chamber music for strings and Frank Zappa-esque mutant pop. Jono El Grande follows his nearly-as-deranged Fevergreens album of 2003 with this impressively scaled-up sequel. Jono takes the role of composer, band leader, arranger and producer on Neo Dada, leaving much of the playing to an orchestra of followers faced with the daunting prospect of having to detangle their way through a barrage of ideas. Any given track presents a slew of manic identity shifts - take for example 'Oslo Coty Suite': at one stage electric guitar and violin shadow each other impeccably through a tricky modal solo, only for the jolting Henry Cow-isms to be halted by a string motif (with a whiff of Saint-Saens' 'Danse Macabre' about it) steering the composition in a different direction. There's more incredible string work to be found on 'Your Mother Eats Like A Playpus', a gleefully complex piece whose pranksterish title hardly reflects the level of craft and toil that informs the score and its execution. Highlights and ear-befuddling thrills are never in short supply on Neo Dada, but 'Ballet Morbido In A Dozen Tiny Movements' warrants a special mention; it shifts from honky-tonk piano riffing (as if it were a silent film soundtrack) into Jethro Tull-style baroque folk via romantic string quartets, playful 17th century harpsichord outings, analogue synth flourishes and very, very strange vocal exercises. All this takes place within eight minutes, perfectly illustrating the exhausting intricacy of this album and its manifold twists and turns. Marvellous and ridiculous in equal measure.Boomkat (UK)

Mischievous composer Jono El Grande commences his third album with a flatulent blast of sax reed (courtesy of Erik Løkra), his own histrionic, lion-tamer vocals and a flurry of comedic, arachnid xylophones; and the rest of "Neo Dada" continues this crazy-paving trajectory in much the same, scatterbrained way. "Ballet Morbido In A Dozen Tiny Movements" is an itchy, scratchy waggledance and "You Mother Eats Like A Platipus" is a ducking, diving dervish for neurotic strings. Totally nuts, and therefore, another triumph for Norwegian label Rune Grammofon.Plan B (UK)

Mr Jono El Grande leads a slightly temporally displaced chamber-prog ensemble, operatic somewhere between Gentle Giant and the lighter side of Univers Zero. Clearly in thrall to the genre´s salad days, El Grande mostly seems happy to resculpt those times in a politely academic manner, but there are oddities: "Big Ben Dover" fuses wibbly keyboard flourishes with the theme to a perma-tanned 1970s British afternoon game show... though intricate, lush and cleverly composed, with a strongly implied narrative feel, "Neo Dada" is at the same time reserved and cautious.Rock-a-Rolla (UK)

This Norwegian composer´s mini-art rock orchestra may have strong Zappa overtones yet it´s no imitation. Very melodic, incredibly quirky; imagine a score that´s as nuts as the surreal cinema of Jodorowsky.Jazzwise (UK)